Vatican slams court ruling on gay couples

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THE Vatican has insisted that children should grow up with a father and a mother after Italy's high court granted custody of a child to his gay mother.

In its decision on Friday, the Court of Cassation said there was no "scientific certainty or experience-based data" to support the father's claims that the child's development was being damaged by living with his mother and her female partner. Such an argument was "mere prejudice," the court said.

On Saturday, bioethicist Adriano Pessina wrote in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that the court merely confirmed typical Italian custody rulings by conferring custody to the mother.

But he echoed the Pope's recent insistence that no one has a "right" to a child and that children should be raised by a mother and father.